Hockey hodge-podge: Sedin remembers a young Murray, Niemi on the blame game, third-period leads — and more

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — With two days between games at the Western Conference finals, you’ve got a situation where there are dozens of reporters in pursuit of a smorgasbord of stories.

Yes, there is that Game 2 advance, but maybe that can wait another 24 hours. So you’re sharing interview time with others going off in every direction imaginable. It can be frustrating because for that moment you don’t really want to hear another response to yet another question about Logan Couture, but you listen anyway. And a lot of the time, you come away with good material.

Here are snippets of what the recorder picked up today. And to keep the smorgasbord imagery going, we’ll start with Daniel Sedin talking about Douglas Murray.

*****Murray is six months older than the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, and he has been competing against them since they were about 12.

So what does Daniel Sedin remember about Murray at that age?

“Big,” the Canucks left wing said. “He was a man when he was 12. We played together on the national team and against him in a few tournaments. He’s always been good.”

Murray’s size wasn’t the only thing that Daniel Sedin remembered about the defenseman as a teammate in international competition.

“He’s got his opinions and he doesn’t mind talking about them,” he said. “He’s pretty un-Swedish that way.”

Murray responded that the Sedins “have been amazing since the first day I played against them. You always have got to know where the other one is because usually it’s not the one with the puck that’s doing the most damage.”

*****Sharks goalie Antti Niemi has a reputation for not blaming his teammates when pucks get past him, even if they may have made mistakes leading up to the goal. Monday he was asked how he developed that approach.

On almost every goal, he said, there is probably something a player could have done differently.

“Always I think it’s my job, whatever happens on the ice before the shot, it doesn’t matter to me,” Niemi said. “I’ve got to be ready to stop the puck when the shot happens.”

****Finland beat Sweden 6-1 for the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday and that means Niemi and backup Antero Niittymaki get to collect on a friendly wager with Murray and Niclas Wallin.

“I think me and Niitty, we’ve got a free dinner tonight,” Niemi said.

*****Coaches and players generally prefer games to be scheduled every other night, but Todd McLellan wasn’t complaining about the extra day off between Games 1 and 2.

“You always want to get back on the horse as quick as you can, but in this case I think the extra day will help us,” he said. “Take advantage of it today physically, and tomorrow we’ll have a real good skate and if we don’t perform better mentally and physically in Game 2, we’ll end up with the same results.”

*****A recurring line of questioning focused on the Sharks inability to hold a third-period lead, something that hurt them twice in the Detroit series and again Sunday night.

So are Dan Boyle and his teammates uncomfortable when they find themselves in that situation.

“No, not uncomfortable at all. I don’t feel uncomfortable with a lead,” Boyle said. “That’s where I want to be. But we‘ve got to find a way to finish people off. Maybe get that next goal.”

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.